Eleven Nights for Hany Shaker

On a Tuesday night in Zamalek, the Cairo Opera House opened its oldest song festival with a new song about absence. "Fi Nas Teghib" — some people leave, but stay in our hearts — was written for the occasion by Abdullah Hassan, composed by Sherif Hamdan, and performed by Nevine Ragab in the Main Hall, before eleven young vocalists from the Opera's companies took turns singing the repertoire of the man the night was named for. In the audience sat his widow, Nahla Tawfik.

The 34th Arab Music Festival runs from October 20 to 30, and this year the whole event is dedicated to the memory of Hany Shaker, the "Prince of Arab Singing," who died in Paris on May 3 at the age of 73. Twenty-four concerts and 91 artists fill eleven nights — one more night than last year — across the Opera's Main Hall, the Arab Music Institute, the Sayed Darwish Theatre in Alexandria and the Damanhour Opera House. It is a festival and a formal act of mourning at once, and it is the second year running that Egypt's official stage has been built around a departed icon: the 33rd edition marked fifty years since the death of Umm Kulthum.

The Prince of Arab Singing

Born in Cairo in 1952, Hany Shaker spent six decades as one of the most dependable voices in Arabic romance — a catalogue regional outlets count at more than 600 songs, anchored by ballads like "Lessa Betesaly" and "Nesyanak Sa'ab Akeed" that moved from cassette decks to wedding playlists to the phones of listeners who were not born when they were recorded. He died after a prolonged illness, following treatment in France; his death was announced by his family after weeks of rumors that had circulated and been denied.

His later career made him more than a beloved voice. As head of Egypt's Musicians' Syndicate from 2015 until his resignation in July 2022, Shaker was also the industry's chief gatekeeper — most famously in February 2020, when the syndicate under his leadership barred mahraganat performers from licensed venues after a Valentine's Day concert by Hassan Shakosh, a decision that made him, for a stretch, the most argued-about man in Egyptian music. The festival now carrying his name honors the singer; the debates his syndicate years opened, about who gets a license to perform and who decides, outlived him and remain unresolved.

Opening Night

"Hany Shaker Night," the October 20 opener, followed the Opera's memorial grammar closely. Guest singers joined the house artists: Anoushka performed "Ana Albi Leik," and Nadia Mostafa sang "Moshtareeki" and "Keda Bardo Ya Amar." Alongside the music, the festival honored singer Tarek Fouad, flutist Mohamed Fouda, violinist Samir Rashad and music critic Enas Galal El-Din.

The night also produced its news line: Abdel Aziz Qansoua, Egypt's minister of higher education and acting minister of culture, announced plans to erect a statue of Shaker on the Opera House grounds. According to SEE News, Qansoua described the dedication as carrying deep artistic and humanitarian significance, reflecting what he framed as the country's lasting gratitude for Shaker's contributions to Arabic music.

Eleven Nights, Four Stages

The programme that follows the tribute reads like a roll call of the official Egyptian and Arab songbook: Amal Maher, whose October 22 concert sold out, composer Omar Khairat, Medhat Saleh, Khaled Selim, Mohamed El-Helw and Ghada Ragab from Egypt; Walid Tawfik from Lebanon; Yosra Mahnouch and Amal Gharbi from Tunisia; Hammam Ibrahim from Iraq. Ali El-Haggar, who had earlier withdrawn, reversed his cancellation and returned to the bill.

Around the concerts runs the machinery that distinguishes a state festival from a concert series. A musicology conference sits in the Small Hall from October 21 to 24, with 35 research papers. Two competitions for performers aged 17 to 40 — an oud contest on October 25 and a singing contest named for Ratiba El-Hefny on October 26 — carry cash prizes and, more importantly, a path onto the official stage. The festival is directed by maestro Mohamed El-Mougy, under Opera House chairman Reza El-Wakil.

The Other Canon

It is easy, in 2026, to tell the story of Arabic music entirely through its export wing — the crossover singles, the arena tours, the Grammy campaigns. The Arab Music Festival is the other system, and it works differently. It does not chase placement on global playlists; it maintains a repertoire. Its orchestras keep the arrangements alive, its competitions recruit the next generation of custodians, and its tribute nights decide, in effect, who enters the official canon — Umm Kulthum last year, Hany Shaker this year.

For readers in the diaspora, the festival is the institutional version of something familiar from living rooms abroad: the handing down of a songbook. The eleven young vocalists who opened the festival singing Shaker's catalogue were doing on a state stage what parents do with car stereos and kitchen radios. The two systems — the export economy and the repertory stage — rarely touch, and each tends to treat the other as beside the point. Eleven nights in Cairo are a reminder that the music travels on both tracks, and that one of them has been running, quietly bureaucratic and orchestra-deep, for thirty-four editions.

Key Facts

• The 34th Arab Music Festival runs October 20–30, 2026 — 24 concerts and 91 artists across the Cairo Opera House Main Hall, the Arab Music Institute, Alexandria's Sayed Darwish Theatre and the Damanhour Opera House.

• The edition is dedicated to the memory of Hany Shaker (1952–2026), who died in Paris on May 3 at 73; last year's edition marked fifty years since Umm Kulthum's death.

• Opening night featured the memorial song "Fi Nas Teghib," performed by Nevine Ragab, and eleven young Opera vocalists singing Shaker's repertoire, with guests Anoushka and Nadia Mostafa.

• Acting culture minister Abdel Aziz Qansoua announced plans for a statue of Shaker on the Opera House grounds.

• The bill includes Amal Maher (sold out), Omar Khairat, Ali El-Haggar, Medhat Saleh and Khaled Selim, with guests from Lebanon, Tunisia and Iraq; a musicology conference and two youth competitions run alongside.

• Shaker led Egypt's Musicians' Syndicate from 2015 to 2022, a tenure that included the 2020 restrictions on mahraganat performers.